Theorising Urban Spaces in Yvonne Vera’s Butterfly Burning (1998) and Without a Name (1994)

Abstract

The study focuses on Yvonne Vera's Without a Name (1994) and Butterfly Burning (1998) and reveals that the re-organisation of the African landscape by the white colonisers had disastrous effects on the environment and this in turn affected the lives of the colonised in irrevocable ways. The study also contends that humanity cannot survive without the environment in whatever situation as it is embedded in the human psyche and influences human behaviours and experiences as revealed in Vera (1994) and (1998). Both novels look at city environments, the cities being colonial constructs that were meant to obliterate the “African” environment. The study is desktop qualitative research employing content analysis in the interpretation and analysis of the chosen texts (novels). The analysis was supported by evidence from other critical works (secondary sources) by various authors/critics. The theory which informs this study is Ecocriticism, basing on Glotfelty's (1996) definition of the term that it is the study of the relationship between literature and the environment. In the same vein, as illustrated in the study, Buell (2005) and Heise (2006) contend that that all literature is environmental, hence this study of the depiction of cityscapes in Vera's works. The study concludes that the re-organisation of the African environment by the colonisers had far-reaching results on both the landscape and the human psyche. It is, therefore, recommended that more studies analysing the impact of the re-organisation of the environment be done so as to map a strategic way in order to undo, rectify and reverse the negativity implanted and nurtured by the colonial environmental systemic practice and agenda.